Three pre-teen dinosaur enthusiasts made an extraordinary discovery during their summer vacation, unearthing the remains of a rare juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex in North Dakota. Brothers Liam and Jessin Fisher, ages seven and ten at the time, along with their nine-year-old cousin Kaiden Madsen, discovered a large fossilized leg bone while exploring the Hell Creek formation of the Badlands in July 2022.
“Dad asked ‘What is this?’ and Jessin said in an AFP report, ‘That’s a dinosaur!'” exclaimed young Liam during a video call with reporters, dinosaur experts, and family members.
The children sent a photo of their find to family friend Tyler Lyson, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Upon arriving at the site, Lyson identified the fossil as an “extremely rare” juvenile T-Rex, which could provide crucial insights into the growth of the famed dinosaur.
“It still gives me goosebumps,” Lyson remarked.
Kaiden expressed his excitement, saying, “This is pretty cool, I can’t believe we just found this.”
The fossilized bones were excavated and transported to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, where the public will soon be able to observe the fossil’s preparation in a new discovery lab.
The discovery remained under wraps for nearly two years, as documentary filmmakers and renowned scientists coordinated with top natural history museums to present the children’s find. The “Teen Rex” is estimated to have weighed about 3,500 pounds, measured 25 feet from nose to tail, and stood about 10 feet tall.
“It’s remarkable to consider how T. rex might have grown from a kitten-sized hatchling into the 40-foot, 8,000-pound adult predator we are familiar with,” said Thomas Holtz, a vertebrate paleontologist from the University of Maryland.
A documentary about the discovery will debut on June 21, rolling out to 100 cities in IMAX, 3D, and other formats. Co-director David Clark described the story as “the kind of story that documentary filmmakers dream of capturing.”
As for the young discoverers, Liam and Kaiden plan to continue their amateur fossil hunting, while Jessin aspires to become a full-time paleontologist, inspired by his find and a lifelong dream sparked by the Jurassic Park movies.
Jessin also offered advice to his peers: “Put down their electronics and just go out hiking.”